"Do ye hear that?" he hisses. "Now, that parson's coming in to finish this marryin' business, or I'm goin' right out of here, and the gal along with me, if I have to cut my way straight through ye! The gal can sign the paper if she likes, but she'll sign it Leschen Francoise, or she'll never sign it at all!" And before they can guess his intentions, he has caught Leslie up and fairly carried her to the outer room. In a flutter of fear and rage, Mamma follows, and Papa hovers in the open doorway. "Franz Francoise!" shrieks Mamma, the tiger now fairly awake in her eyes. [Illustration: "Give me that paper, boy!" she fairly hisses.--page 406.] But he pays no heed to her rage. He releases his hold upon Leslie, and flings open the door. "I don't know as we will have any funeral, after all," he says cheerfully, to the two who enter. "There's a kind of a hitch in the arrangements." The new-comers, the foremost in the garb of a Priest, and the other evidently a very humble citizen, stop near the open door and glance curiously around. And then a third citizen appears, and fairly fills up the doorway. Even as they enter, Mamma, stealing close to Leslie, whispers in her ear: "If ye ever want to see yer gal agin, _marry him_." Leslie Warburton looks into the wolfish face beside her; looks across at Franz, and then at the three new-comers. What stolid faces! She sees no hope there. And then, as Mamma's words repeat themselves in her ear, she leans against the rickety closet-door and utters a despairing moan. "Quick!" whispers Mamma, "it's yer last chance!" CHAPTER LVI. AT THE RIGHT TIME. "Ye see," explains Franz, glancing toward Leslie, "the lady's kind o' hesitatin'. We'll give her a minute or two ter make up her mind." And he goes over and takes his stand beside her. In the moment of silence that follows, Leslie can hear her heart beat, then-- What is it that breaks that strange stillness, that startles so differently every occupant of that dingy room? Only a voice, sweet, clear, pitiful; a child's voice, uplifted in prayer: "_Dear God, please take care of a little girl whose Mamma has gone to Heaven--_" The rest is drowned in the shriek which bursts from Leslie's lips; in the sudden bound made by Mamma; and the quick counter movement of Franz. Then Leslie's hands are beating wildly against the closet-door. Mamma, forcibly hurled back by Franz, is sprawling upon the floor, and the escaped convict is pressing against the rickety timbers. As they yield to his onslaught, he stoops down, catches up the little crouching figure within, and turns to Leslie, who receives it with outstretched arms. "Oh, Daisy! _Daisy!_ DAISY!" Sobbing wildly, she is down upon her knees, the little one tightly clasped to her bosom. "Oh, Daisy, my darling!" "Git out!" commands Franz, as Mamma, scrambling up, approaches with glaring eyes. "Stand back, old un. This is a new deal."